Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
All work is copyrighted and may not be reprinted without written permission from the author, who can be contacted at www.paulspadoni.com

Thursday, March 9, 2017

The "can't stand in the attic" solution looks inevitable in roof repair plans.

Sometimes
on sunny days, we pull down the retractable stairs, climb into the
attic, stand on an old wooden trunk and tip up the tiny skylight.
Then, taking turns, we thrust shoulders and head through the small
opening and gaze at the magnificent view to the northeast. We already
have a great western view from our terrazza, but our eastern view is
blocked by buildings that are almost as tall as our own. From the attic, we can see over the top of these buildings.

We
drool over this northeastern vista. We can take in the rugged
snow-capped Alpi Apuane mountains and also see hill villages such as
Collodi, Monte a Pescia, Uzzano Castello, Buggiano Castello and
Montecatini Alto. We can see Pescia and some of the Valdinievole, the
Valley of the Nievole River. We want to experience this view more
easily and be able to share it with visitors. And that’s another
complication with the repair of our leaky roof.

The
roof leaks because some of the terracotta tiles are moss-covered and
broken, and the mortar is cracked. Also, it was installed many years
ago, when guaina a caldo or carta catramata (insulating
paper or tarpaper) was not routinely installed between the layers of
brick and roofing tile. Once resigned to the reality that minor roof
repairs would be inadequate to stop the leaks, we looked at the
condition of the beams that support the roof and hatched an idea.
Maybe we could subtlety add a few inches to the height of our roof.

As
it is now, a head poked out of the skylight is almost the only way an
average sized person can stand in our attic, since the highest
standing spot is just under 6 feet, but that’s just in the center;
then it quickly slopes down. Our thought was that if we replace the
roof, we should also replace all the beams and joists, which are
ancient and suspect. They look like they could last another 20 years,
give or take 10 years. But then, they look ancient now, and maybe
they could survive another 50 years. Who knows how long these things
last? But if they do need to be replaced, wouldn’t now be a good
time? And couldn’t they be just a bit bigger without even asking
for special permission (with such permission being almost impossible
to obtain inside a walled, historic city)? And could we put in some
large skylights that open up, so we can stand under them and enjoy
the northeastern view? Should we not also put in insulation while we
were at it?

We
told Juri to ask for these extra options when inquiring about
re-roofing proposals. We would pay the extra for skylights and
insulation. We were hoping that the contractors would say that all
the beams needed to be replaced so that Juri would also share in the
cost of that.

My beautiful computer art drawing made for the builder, which turned out to
pretty much a total waste of my time.

And
it was because of all these extra options that we had difficulty
understanding Juri when he tried to explain what the three
contractors had told him when he asked for the preventivi
(bids). So Monday of this week, we arranged to have a friend we had
met at church come over to give us advice and help us talk to Juri.
Silvio speaks some English, and he is familiar with construction
projects because he designed and supervised the construction of his
own house. He also brought his nephew Giuseppe, who is an architect.
If nothing else, we wanted to have some knowledgeable and impartial
people giving us advice.

Silvio,
Giuseppe and I crawled into the attic and held a ‟high level council.” The beams
could be replaced, but they are not the cause of the leaking and it’s
not absolutely necessary to replace them now, Giuseppe said.

‟If
I were your neighbor,” he explained, ‟I’d tell you, ‘Paul,
I’ll pay my share of replacing the roof tiles and putting on a
layer of guiana, but if you want to replace the beams, that’s
your expense.’ ”

Then
we went down and talked to Juri, and that’s exactly what he said.
And that would be the 10,000 euro he had quoted me a couple of weeks
ago. His family and our family would share this cost. To replace all
the beams and add insulation and skylights would be in the
neighborhood of 40,000 to 50,000 euro, and Juri would not share in
the extra costs.

We
were happy that we finally understood the options and that we had
received advice from our own independent personal experts. They left
us to mull it over, but it didn’t take long for us to realize what
to do. We’ll go with the existing beams, but we’ll also pay the
extra cost of installing two large skylights on the west side. It’s
not worth 30,000 euro or more to be able to stand up straight in a
few more places. On warm days, we’ll open the skylights, stand tall
and savor the bellavista. In that way, we’ll still
have money left over to pop open a bottle of wine and toast our good
fortune while dunking our cantuccini in a glass of vinsanto.

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About Me

First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.